4 ms·

Except in the case of performatives! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performative_utterance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performative_utterance

brudgers 15y ago
Not exactly. Austin's proposition is that the statement, "I promise," is a promise not a proposition. But that does not make it a description of a state of affairs [or a picture of reality per Wittgensteinian]. A description would be, "You promised," and that is clearly not a promise. YMMV.
- batista 15y ago
  Wait, what? "I promise" is as much a description as "You promised". A description can be made in the first person.
  - brudgers 15y ago
    Austin's argument is that "I promise" is unique because saying "I promise" is the act of promising. "You promised" is not a promise, it is a description of the act of promising (carried out by someone else). [see How to Do Things with Words: http://www.amazon.com/How-Do-Things-Words-Lectures/dp/0674411528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327701128&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/How-Do-Things-Words-Lectures/dp/067441... ]
    - FreakLegion 15y ago
      He didn't say "You promised" is also a promise. Rather, he said "I promise" is also a description.
- FreakLegion 15y ago
  Austin doesn't say performatives aren't propositions. Note that there are still truth-evaluable performatives, and that as Austin and others continued down the il/perlocutionary rabbit hole, they came to regard all language as essentially performative. Don't get me wrong though, I see the point you want to make; but it misses the mark in statements like Rimbaud's "Je est un autre." Writers, poets especially, do this a lot, pushing performativity to some limit where the form accomplishes what the meaning merely asserts. Which totally reminds me of a line from Marshall McLuhan: Just before an airplane breaks the sound barrier, sound waves become visible on the wings of the plane. The sudden visibility of sound just as sound ends is an apt instance of that great pattern of being that reveals new and opposite forms just as the earlier forms reach their peak performance.

brudgers 15y ago

Not exactly. Austin's proposition is that the statement, "I promise," is a promise not a proposition. But that does not make it a description of a state of affairs [or a picture of reality per Wittgensteinian]. A description would be, "You promised," and that is clearly not a promise. YMMV.

batista 15y ago
Wait, what? "I promise" is as much a description as "You promised". A description can be made in the first person.
- brudgers 15y ago
  Austin's argument is that "I promise" is unique because saying "I promise" is the act of promising. "You promised" is not a promise, it is a description of the act of promising (carried out by someone else). [see How to Do Things with Words: http://www.amazon.com/How-Do-Things-Words-Lectures/dp/0674411528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327701128&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/How-Do-Things-Words-Lectures/dp/067441... ]
  - FreakLegion 15y ago
    He didn't say "You promised" is also a promise. Rather, he said "I promise" is also a description.
FreakLegion 15y ago
Austin doesn't say performatives aren't propositions. Note that there are still truth-evaluable performatives, and that as Austin and others continued down the il/perlocutionary rabbit hole, they came to regard all language as essentially performative. Don't get me wrong though, I see the point you want to make; but it misses the mark in statements like Rimbaud's "Je est un autre." Writers, poets especially, do this a lot, pushing performativity to some limit where the form accomplishes what the meaning merely asserts. Which totally reminds me of a line from Marshall McLuhan: Just before an airplane breaks the sound barrier, sound waves become visible on the wings of the plane. The sudden visibility of sound just as sound ends is an apt instance of that great pattern of being that reveals new and opposite forms just as the earlier forms reach their peak performance.